Cranium

Also, http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/24898-Challenge-Submission-Guidelines No scoring, overdone, way too easy, and generally boring.

That....is going to require a massive amount of boosters to even get it into orbit... I accept your challenge.

Can't make it, or can't fly it? If you can make it, I can likely fly it, I've got a decent computer that I've just built.

These are pretty specific and restrictive requirements... Also, I predict a high part count, so that knocks out most challengers who do not have a gaming rig. Might I recommend just requiring a crew capacity, missiles(or other weapons), obvious mod restriction, and timeframe. Optional would be the others that you have listed.

I tried making a larger version of this(of my own design of course), but since I don't do part clipping(not debug menu part clipping anyway), how did you get those air intakes on the sides of the ship like that? I can't seem to get parts to connect in such a way without cheating.

I just want to point out a few things wrong here:1. This is not a chat room or a text message, so you do have time to use the full word, not a single letter, as well as punctuation. 2. The stage does not have to be activated in order for the chute to deploy. Parachutes can be activated by action groups.

This is their intellectual property, and they are under no obligation to release source code. No company is.

It's definitely possible, however unlikely. You would already have to be going the exact speed needed to orbit at your desired altitude. Some very precise calculations would be needed.

As was pointed out, you can do this in the settings.cfg file

It generally depends on the design of your plane. I generally like to nose up to 45 degrees immediately on takeoff, and as soon as I seem my air intake dropping, I nose down to 15 degrees. Once my air intake drops to about 25%, I like to level off as much as I can, gaining speed over altitude. I try to stay at the threshold of flaming out for as long as possible, and lowering the throttle until I no longer have any thrust. If you did it right, you should see that your AP has exited outside of Kerbin's atmosphere. Wait until that point, and then burn prograde with your rocket engines. For larger planes, you may not be able to nose up to 45 degrees right away, so an ascent angle of 30 degrees is also acceptable. I generally do nothing with the air intakes, because they generate a negligible amount of drag compared to the amounts of thrust generated by the jet engine(s), so leaving them open is definitely a viable strategy. You definitely want to get 2-4 ram air intakes per engine at a minimum. This should ensure that you have enough air to get into the upper atmosphere.

They're Interplanetary Space Dolphins now? Since when?

Dang, I was going to make this on my own, now I guess I'm doing it as a challenge.

And by damage, it usually is just for show, as right now, damage done by engines isn't very real.

Removing the burm? Definitely. Might I also suggest lengthening the runway for larger planes? My Heavy tanker just can't get the speed required before clipping the end of the burm.

I was in an IRC channel, and my friends were just talking about launching rockets, and blowing things up, and it interested me (Mostly the blowing things up part ). So I dawdled a bit, then finally just went out and bought it. I do not regret that decision.

So it seems like everybody has neglected the poor launch vehicle. You know, that thing that got you into space int he first place? As in, that giant mass of highly volatile chemicals sitting just feet away from your precious kerbals? Yeah, those things. I'd like to see what others have made to get those very beautiful payloads in the air. I want to see the brilliant, the idiotic, the beautiful, and the ugly.The simple, and the lag-monsters. I want to see them all.

Well, Kerbals are notorious for their patience. He probably just started playing some games with the rocks as his friends.

A good example of what I would like to see is showcased in Accel World, an anime about virtual reality based games that connect directly to your conciousness. The idea is that via a neural interface, a removable computer can be 'hacked' to provide the user with superhuman abilities such as augmented reaction time. This is done by 'overclocking' the thought process, thus allowing the user to experience an altered perception of reality. So it would be like pressing 'pause', thinking about your next move, then resuming to execute the perfect move.

You can assign the chute to an action group to deploy, and it will not cut until you tell it to i believe. I've never tried it, but it's worth a shot.

I've actually found that for unpowered flights like gliders, a perfectly centered COM/COL is really good for just detatch and forget, as it's going to continue in the original direction you point it in with minimal course correction. I've done tests like this by making a small, probe powered glider, perfectly balanced, and then detaching it from a decaying orbit. I've found that I can make it fly perfectly without much control, and can even use a centered probe core as the only means of control if the plane is small enough.

Just being an SSTO does not require that it needs wings, and it technically doesn't need stabilizers either. Being an SSTO just implies that it is a single stage(no parts being detached) into orbit. For being a spaceplane, of course it would need wings, otherwise it couldn't be classified as a plane at all.

Well, it's not going to win any awards for beauty, but it certainly looks like it works well!

I finally got a working SSTO with a great looking design, if I may say so. It's called the Falcon X2. The X1 version is simply an in-atmosphere version without the rocket fuel, and small engines on the sides. Both work ridiculously well,a nd are very well balanced. So balanced, in fact, that I am able to use my negligible piloting skills to land right back at KSP!

Lately, I have been messing around with just getting orbit, with no other purpose than to look really cool while doing it. This is my result: I also have a non SSTO version, with just jet fuel. It still flies really well. One thing to note here, is that this is the very first time I have ever landed back at KSP with any of my attempts, and I even landed on the runway to boot!.

Hehe, noting today, YET. But last night, I decided that I would throw physics out the window!